The DC sub didn't go through this year, and despite what you tell us and expect us to believe, there is still a big market for 4H DC 6" figures in that style. What I want to know is, are you going to dig your heels and just give up on the line or are you going to start listening to fans, working with them through the various toy sites and Matty collector, and re-focus the character selections to produce characters that fans are asking for and that will sell in big enough numbers to make it worth your while and keep the bean counters at mattel happy?

I know there were some duds here and there, maybe 2 in a year... but I don't know how you can say they aren't making the figures that fans were asking for in the sub.

And to answer your question - the 2014 sub was the way for fans to get 4H DC 6" It didn't fund. That means there are not enough fans to keep the line going. So it's ending. We might get a handfull of the Q1 2014, but after that it's over.

I'm not going to go through a whole list of characters that people want from the line, as you can find those lists all over toy sites. Superfriends recent blog on how better to run the sub is what they should be looking at. The line should be re-focused, re-sold to retail and a more focused sub or smaller subs be put on Matty (like the Watchmen sub, one team, 6 characters over the course of a year).

I really hope we get what was shown at a non cash grab price (if the figures were far enough along to come out then there's no reason for the price to suddenly go up).

I hope the Unleashed Doomsday is the SDCC exclusive next year (throw in a light blue suited Superman and you've hit the jackpot)

And I really hope, what with him being the DC cash cow, Mattel reconsider doing the 4H 6" line at retail as a Batman headed line with bat family characters/villains and one or two heroes/villains that he has come up against in each wave. That would sell surely, I mean if Batman cant sell a line on his own, why is he always in the first wave of any new line?

I have to admit they did make some characters in the subscription people wanted. Some were surprises for me, I'll always be in Camp Constantine, I love that figure!

I still say to this day... the problem with that line at retail is the same with any Mattel merchandise... they need to work closer with the retail stores and distribution centers... you can't buy it if you can't find it and those pegs up and down the East Coast were always empty for the most part... from Florida to Massachusetts... or peg warmers get so backed up we miss new waves and assortments. They need to bring back the traveling Reps who would go to stores and make sure their product were on shelves and priced and ordered in stock.

That's why the line failed. All this stuff about parents and characters is bullshit and always has been and Mattel has used it as an excuse for years to cover up that they mismanage everything even Barbie now-a-days. Back when they had in-store traveling Reps this never happened.

I understand that the spreading of tooling costs for the tooling of Unleashed Doomsday can no longer come from the sub due to it not going through. And appreciate the $35 price for the containment suit Doomsday at SDCC next year (was worried it would be more).

BUT... you've stated that SDCC and convention exclusives are granted their own budget, so is there any chance that the Unleashed version can be made as an exclusive for either retail or conventions, as part of a 2pk with the long requested light blue suited Superman under a separate budget?The Supes would be a straight repaint people have wanted for ages, (no new tooling there, just money for old rope). If you priced it at around $50 to $60 max it would sell. If you can sell the 66 Batmobile for $60 (and that is pretty much just a plastic shell), then you could easily sell this 2pk.

I understand that the spreading of tooling costs for the tooling of Unleashed Doomsday can no longer come from the sub due to it not going through. And appreciate the $35 price for the containment suit Doomsday at SDCC next year (was worried it would be more).

BUT... you've stated that SDCC and convention exclusives are granted their own budget, so is there any chance that the Unleashed version can be made as an exclusive for either retail or conventions, as part of a 2pk with the long requested light blue suited Superman under a separate budget?The Supes would be a straight repaint people have wanted for ages, (no new tooling there, just money for old rope). If you priced it at around $50 to $60 max it would sell. If you can sell the 66 Batmobile for $60 (and that is pretty much just a plastic shell), then you could easily sell this 2pk.

You say you understand but I don't think you do. Back in the day when we got our toy info from magazines, ALL of the toy companies were telling us the same thing: the making of the mold was the most expensive part of the process. This was the main reason we would get 'rainbow' Batmen. Now they are trying to tell us that mold making and paint app processes cost the same, and Mattel was the first company I ever actually saw this in print from.

Here are my problems with this. (Ignore the actual numbers.) It costs $10 to make a mold and $10 for a paint app. You do a black Batman and a gray Batman. For 2 figures you are looking at $40, but you reused the mold, so you saved $10. Now you do a white Batman and a blue Batman, and you are still using the same mold, so you saved $20 more. An $80 line has only cost you $50 to make. Keep reusing that mold (assuming it holds up) and eventually you hit a point where everything you do is already paid for, by that mold. This simplistic explanation of how reuse of the mold affects costs completely undermines the excuse that the cost the same, assuming that the actually do because we are still getting 'rainbow' Batmen, as well as 'rainbow' Supermen and Green Lanterns, even though the purpose of the excuse is to keep from having to give us 'rainbow' Flashes and Wonder Women.

So, having already gone to this much trouble to make a cup that doesn't hold water, do you really think they will consider your request or just dig in their stubborn, ignorant, non cup making heels and just ignore you?

(and you wonder why I keep giving Matty a hard time. )

CCC.

_________________The expediency of acquired knowledge is preponderant upon determining a justifiable conclusion, unattainable at this time.

except that you're only applying it to one figure and one character. Batman's tooling may cost $10 but Green Arrow costs $30, you've then got to spread that cost out across all the figures and make them even out. Then you have a character like camo Aquaman who doesn't have a bit of new tooling but he'd got a complicated deco that requires 3 to 4 paint apps on each piece, where Batman may cost $5 to deco Aquaman might cost $40 due to how complex the deco is.

I heard Hasbro talk about deco back in '93 at the Joe convention in Burbank. The basic figures (Battle Corps?...) had the first run made in China but the second run was done in Indonesia to save money but to cut back even more the later run had one less color overall on each figure which probably saved them on 3 to 4 paint apps per figure.

except that you're only applying it to one figure and one character. Batman's tooling may cost $10 but Green Arrow costs $30, you've then got to spread that cost out across all the figures and make them even out. Then you have a character like camo Aquaman who doesn't have a bit of new tooling but he'd got a complicated deco that requires 3 to 4 paint apps on each piece, where Batman may cost $5 to deco Aquaman might cost $40 due to how complex the deco is.

I heard Hasbro talk about deco back in '93 at the Joe convention in Burbank. The basic figures (Battle Corps?...) had the first run made in China but the second run was done in Indonesia to save money but to cut back even more the later run had one less color overall on each figure which probably saved them on 3 to 4 paint apps per figure.

which is fine, IF they are doing Green Arrow and Aquaman. Thats the point, they aren't, and this is the excuse they are using to get out of it. One figure I would really like is Wonder Woman in the Linda Carter blue/red diving suit from the series. It wouldn't even have to look like Linda (but that would be nice) AND you wouldn't even need a hair sculpt.

CCC.

_________________The expediency of acquired knowledge is preponderant upon determining a justifiable conclusion, unattainable at this time.

Now that you say DCUC is ending, would you consider what Hasbro has done by using the movies to release both classic and film figures in the same wave? For example Batman Vs Superman you can do Batman, Superman, and Nightwing (Rumored) for movie figures and three superman and Batman related characters in DCUC style such as Buisness Lex Luthor, Talia Al Ghul, Hugo Strange, ETC. if you say retailers don't buy DCUC maybe this would be a way to release some figures using the film name.

All of these would be straight forward reissues of existing sculpts, no new paint masks would be required, just a change in the original colour used on each figure. Yes, some of the sculpting wouldn't be on model (like in the case of Poison Ivy still being bare footed) but I doubt that would matter in a case like this and heck, you've already released figures when the line was alive that weren't fully on model so we can live with that. (or you could just swap Ivy's feet out with say Harleys as they have the detail at the back)

I can't see how this would be a failure as it's Batman, which always sells, and there would be no new investment, just straight forward repaints just like hasbro/Kenner used to do.